Car-door hanger



BBQPR'ATT.'

- Gar-Door Hanger,

No. 227,127'.` Patented May .4, 1880.

. N,PEF.RS. PHDTO-UTNOGRAFHER. WASHINGTON. D C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

ELIAS E. PRATT, OF NORWOOD, MASSACHUSETTS.

CAR-DOOR HANGER.

SPECIFICATION forming partof Letters Patent No. 227,127, dated May 4, 1880.

Application led February 21, 1880.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ELIAS E. PRATT, of Norwood, in the county of Norfolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Devices for Han ing the Doors of Freight-Cars, of which the following is adescription sufficiently full, clear, and exact to enable any one skilled in the art or science to which my invention appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a side elevation of my device;` Fig. 2, a vertical transverse section ofthe runlet, taken on the 'line x a', Fig. l; Fig. 8, a view of the door and trucks detached from the runlet, and Fig. 4 a vertical transverse section of one of the trucks or rollers.

Like letters indicate corresponding` parts in the different figures of the drawings.

My present invention is designed as an improvement on that shown in Letters Patent No. 184,983, granted to me on the 5th day of December, 1876; and it consists in a novel construction and arrangement of the parts, as hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed, by which a cheaper, lighter, and more desirable runlet is produced than that described in said patent.

In the drawings, A represents the body or side wall of the car 5 B, the top or cover of the runlet 5 C, the front, and D the back, of the saine, the latter being firmly screwed or attached to the wall A.

It will be understood that the parts B C D, forming the body of the runlet, are arranged longitudinally directly over the door or opening to the car, and extend along the outer side of the same a distance equal to that which the door is designed to slide or traverse.

Disposed within the body of the runlet there are two lugs or supports, consisting of the vertical side pieces, E F, and horizontally-arranged plates d d. The side pieces are provided with the inwardlyfprojecting brackets o c, and are let into vertical grooves or channels (not shown) formed on the inner faces of the front and back pieces, C D, of the runlet.

Arranged horizontally on the brackets there are two tracks or rails, m m, formed of angle- Y iron or strips of sheet metal turned or bent,

as shown, the vertical outer sides or portions of the rails being let into corresponding horizontal channels or grooves (not shown)forn1ed respectively in the inner faces of the parts C D, and secured in position by the screws i i.

'A screw-bolt, H, provided with the nut Z, is employed to firmly secure the runlet, and passes horizontally through the parts C D, sides E F, and wall A, being arranged between the plates d d. The lower plat-e, d', acts as a stay or brace to strengthen the runlet and. prevent the bolt. when the nut is turnedl home, from breaking the lug or springing the front G and side F inwardly to such an extent as to interfere with the proper working of the door. This form of construction also lightens the lug and obviatcs the necessity of drilling a long hole through solid metal to receive the bolt H, which would be required if the .space between the plates d d were filled with metal or the top of the lug were thickened and cast solid.

The sides E F, plates d d', and brackets ta are preferably cast integral or in one piece; and it will be understood that any required number of the lugs Inay be usedaccording to the length of the runlet.

The door J is suspended from the axles f of the trucks K by the loops or hangers I) b.

The trucks described in my aforesaid patent have an annular groove in the center, or consist of two trucks connected by an axle, the inner faces of the trucks being plain or vertical, and presenting a large frictional surface to the loop, the body of which is round, this formation of the loop requiring a wide groove between the trucks for its reception.

In the present case I use a truck in which both sections are concaved, as shown at s s, and formed integral with the axle-f, the loop b being flattened and working freely in the space e between the trucks.

By concaving the inner faces of the trucks the friction is greatly reduced between the trucks and loops, as the trucks then come in contact with the loops at their peripheries an only, while by flattening the body of the loop it is greatly strengthened in the line of the strain from the suspended door, and the tendency of the trucks to swivel and cram p or get out of position on the track is obviated.

IOO

It Will be seen that the runlet, when oonstructed as herein described, Will be much lighter and cheaper than that patented to me as aforesaid, and is Well adapted to hanging nearly all varieties of sliding doors; also, that the part D may be dispensed with and the side E attached directly to the Wall A, if preferred.

Having thus explained my improvement, what I claim is- 1. In a runlet for car-doors, the improved lug described, the same consisting of the sides E F, plates d d', and brackets a a, substantially as set forth and specified.

2. The improved lug, as hereinbefore de- 15 scribed, in combination with the rails mm, substantially as set forth.

3. The improved runlet described, consisting of the lug E F d d a af, rails m m, top B, and side C, combined and arranged to operate zo substantially as specified.

ELIAS E. EEATT.

Witnesses GEo. G. UPHAM. BENNETT PELLEY. 

